Maniou, Eirini;
Todros, Silvia;
Urciuolo, Anna;
Moulding, Dale A;
Magnussen, Michael;
Ampartzidis, Ioakeim;
Brandolino, Luca;
... Elvassore, Nicola; + view all
(2024)
Quantifying mechanical forces during vertebrate morphogenesis.
Nature Materials
10.1038/s41563-024-01942-9.
(In press).
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Abstract
Morphogenesis requires embryonic cells to generate forces and perform mechanical work to shape their tissues. Incorrect functioning of these force fields can lead to congenital malformations. Understanding these dynamic processes requires the quantification and profiling of three-dimensional mechanics during evolving vertebrate morphogenesis. Here we describe elastic spring-like force sensors with micrometre-level resolution, fabricated by intravital three-dimensional bioprinting directly in the closing neural tubes of growing chicken embryos. Integration of calibrated sensor read-outs with computational mechanical modelling allows direct quantification of the forces and work performed by the embryonic tissues. As they displace towards the embryonic midline, the two halves of the closing neural tube reach a compression of over a hundred nano-newtons during neural fold apposition. Pharmacological inhibition of Rho-associated kinase to decrease the pro-closure force shows the existence of active anti-closure forces, which progressively widen the neural tube and must be overcome to achieve neural tube closure. Overall, our approach and findings highlight the intricate interplay between mechanical forces and tissue morphogenesis.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Quantifying mechanical forces during vertebrate morphogenesis |
| Location: | England |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1038/s41563-024-01942-9 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-024-01942-9 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health > Developmental Biology and Cancer Dept |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10196605 |
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